February 21, 2012

MWW Group Launches "Net Relevance," an Analytics Tool That Measures Brand Relevance

MWW Group (www.mww.com) has announced the launch of Net Relevance, its proprietary new measurement and analytics tool that is poised to dramatically change the way that brands and companies measure relevance, and anticipate and drive desired actions and outcomes with their customers and key stakeholders.

Net Relevance takes analytics to the next level, moving from active listening to the prescriptive and predictive ability to program against what matters, and how that relevance drives the propensity to act. The Net Relevance platform is distinct from existing measurement tools in its ability to provide more than just measurement of message volume after a program is complete. This prescriptive ability, rooted in the MWW Group philosophy of "Trust + Relevance = Action" serves as a tool to make clients and their issues matter more to the people who matter most for their business.

Net Relevance does more than just measure outputs; it measures impact – identifying what makes a message or story relevant. Equally important is the insight into how that relevance is shared among peers, creating the kind of emotional connection to brands that drives sales, builds category leadership and creates brand intimacy and loyalty.

The proprietary Net Relevance tool was developed exclusively by MWW's communications leaders and PHD's on an "active analytics" platform that provides insights into relevance and propensity for future actions, not just the traditional, passive approach that uses historical data to measure messaging via ad equivalency or other standard metrics.

"Net Relevance provides the kinds of insights that brands need to become and remain relevant in a world where messaging and brand-speak have become white noise, even when the brand is trusted by its stakeholders," said MWW Group President and CEO Michael W. Kempner. "Our industry has been in the trust business for years – helping brand and companies earn trust every day. But trust alone is no longer enough. Relevance is what makes us act. Brands need to truly matter to their stakeholders, and matter more than the competition in order to succeed and sustain that success. Insight into action-driving relevance is the key to developing strategies and programs that move the needle for clients today."

The Net Relevance platform is based on machine learning, and is updated and refined continuously with input from millions of content items across a broad spectrum of digital, social and traditional media, including peer to peer conversation. The analytics are customized with each client's unique, custom designed relevance criteria, aligned with program objectives and desired outcomes and actions.

"The Net Relevance tool enables us to look at data from a communications and brand building perspective that was unavailable in any existing commercial offering," said Doug O'Reilly, MWW Group Vice President of Research and Insights. "Our research has shown that relevance is the key to creating action, but until now, a consistent and sophisticated tool to measure relevance and prescribe actions to build, enhance and sustain relevance simply didn't exist. Now MWW can apply that data across all of our practice areas to provide clients with tools and insights based on the key measures of what matters enough to drive actions."

MWW Group will utilize its Net Relevance analytics across all practice areas – with particularly strong opportunities for consumer and business-to-business brand initiatives, corporate reputation programs and grassroots and public affairs issues campaigns. Net Relevance is also a high impact tool for use in the development of content and digital strategies, ensuring that stakeholders will actually engage and act based on that content.